NE
of the most interesting and profitable pages in the history
of the state is the semi-centennial celebration of the
admission of Nebraska into the Union. This celebration took
place in 1917 under the direction of the State Historical
Society. The Honorable John L. Webster of Omaha, who had
been president of the society for a good many years,
appointed a committee of one hundred members to take charge
of the celebration. This body of citizens was appointed to
provide the means and to suggest a general program for a
fitting commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the
admission of Nebraska as a state. The dates of these two
important events are March 1, 1867, and March 1, 1917.
Gurdon W. Wattles of Omaha was made chairman of the
committee of one hundred. The plans for the celebration
included a pageant at Omaha in October, 1916, in connection
with the Ak-Sar-Ben for that year. The committee of
arrangements for Omaha consisted of Gurdon W. Wattles,
Gilbert M. Hitchcock, E. E. Buckingham, C. E. Yost, Victor
Rosewater, Norris Brown, Rome Miller, A. L. Reed, W. H.
Bucholz, and W. A. Fraser. The celebration which the
committee planned and guided was much greater in size and in
its attractive features than anyone thought possible. The
ceremonies were witnessed by more than 100,000 people.
President and Mrs. Woodrow Wilson from Washington, D. C.,
were present and reviewed the pageant and President Wilson
made an address.
The celebration in Lincoln took place in
June, 1917, at the time of the commencement of the State
University. The committee of arrangements for Lincoln was
made up of H. M. Bushnell, H. B. Lowry, E. B. Sizer, and A.
J. Sawyer. The plans were made on a large and imposing
scale. One of the most significant and attractive features
was the address of ex-President Theodore Roosevelt.
The celebration was statewide and at
almost every place was worthy of the people and of the
occasion. The general committee for the state at large was
made up of A. 0. Thomas, at the time state school
superintendent, Paul Jessen of Nebraska City, and Ross L.
Hammond of Fremont. For each county in the state the
committee was composed of the county superintendent, the
mayor of the county seat city or town, the president of the
commercial club, and the president of the woman's club.
Local committees were encouraged to have, in addition to the
county celebration, gatherings and exercises in honor of the
occasion. The following is an outline of the plan in nearly
every part of the state:

1. By way of special preparation and to
create interest in the celebration on the part of all people
the committee encouraged a study of Nebraska history,
collection of historical data, and marking places which have
been connected with the history of the state.
2. Making maps by the children and high
school pupils of historic trails and of places of note
during pioneer days.
3. Celebration on February 12th in all the
rural and village schools of Nebraska. The committee
suggested that the program include patriotic songs, the
Nebraska patriotic ode, a brief account of the purchase of
the Louisiana territory, a sketch of Nebraska as a territory
and the place it occupied in the purchase, essays on various
phases of local history, stories of the pioneers told by
themselves wherever possible, and brief addresses by local
speakers.

844

HISTORY OF NEBRASKA

JOHN L.
WEBSTER

SEMI-CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

845

4. Exercises fitting for the occasion
to be held in the churches and Sunday schools February 25,
1917 -- the Sunday nearest Washington's birthday in that
year.
5. The general or county celebration to be
held March 1, 1917, by schools, commercial clubs, historical
societies, churches, women's clubs, Daughters of the
American Revolution, men's clubs, and civic societies.
6. The following is a copy of the program
suggested by the committee:

(1) March 1, 1917, to be
observed in a formal way by the state legislature as
Nebraska Day.
(2) Moving pictures where they
could be procured, showing local schools, local history, and
local scenes of community and state development.
(3) Dramatization of local and
state history.
(4) Addresses on the pioneer
days and the stirring scenes which confronted our fathers in
transforming the wilds into a garden of beauty.
(5) Nebraska, present and
future, by local speakers.
(6) Historic carnival or
pageant covering local and state themes.

7. County exhibitions and contests from
all schools, spelling contests, ciphering matches, essay and
oration, local contests, compositions on local history,
collections of historic relics, and general school work.
8. Unveiling of pictures and statuary in
court-houses, public libraries, and schools, of important
characters who had to do with upbuilding of the community
and of those whom it is a delight to honor.

To make all this the more valuable to the
people as a whole and especially to children, pupils, and
students Professor C. N. Anderson of the state normal school
at Kearney prepared an outline for the guidance of teachers
and others in collecting material on the history of the
people of Nebraska. Among other suggestions are the
following:

1. Collect real first-hand material on the
history of the people.
2. Make a record of what is learned and as
near as possible in the language of the people.
3. Get, as near as possible, exact names,
dates, places, and order of events.
4. Secure, when possible, old papers,
letters, and diaries.

These directions were followed by others
relating to the form in which they may be preserved.
To stimulate interest in the celebration
the Honorable John D. Haskell of Wakefield, Nebraska,
offered a prize of $100 in 1916 for the best poem adopted as
a state song for Nebraska. One of the conditions was that
the ode to Nebraska should be written by some person who at
the time was living in the state. The judges of the contest
appointed by the state school superintendent were Dr. L. A.
Sherman of the State University, Professor W. E. Nicholl of
Bellevue College, and Miss Mary Crawford of the State Normal
School at Kearney. The judges awarded the prize to the Rev.
William H. Buss of Fremont. Mr. Haskell gave, also, a prize
of $100 for the best musical arrangement for the poem. This
award was secured by Mr. John Prindle Scott of New York
City.

THE
ODE TO NEBRASKA

REVEREND
WILLIAM
H.
BUSS,
FREMONT

Now laud the proud tree planter
state,
Nebraska --
free, enlightened, great;
Her royal place she has in
song;
The noblest
strains to her belong;
Her
fame is sure.
Then sing Nebraska through the
years;
Extol her
stalwart pioneers;
The days when, staunch and
unafraid,
The state's
foundations, well they laid,
To
long endure.

The land where Coronado trod,
And brave
Marquette surveyed the sod;
Where red men long in council
sat;
Where spreads
the valley of the Platte
Far
'neath the sun.
The land beside whose borders
sweep
The bill
Missouri's waters, deep,
Whose course erratic, through its
sands,
From northland
on, through many lands,
Does
seaward run.

846

HISTORY OF NEBRASKA

The
foothills of the Rockies lie
Afar athwart
her western sky;
Her rolling prairie, like the
sea,
Held long in
virgin sanctity,
Her
fertile loam.
Her wild-life roamed o'er
treeless plains,
Till came the
toiling wagon-trains,
And settlers bold, far westward
bound,
In broad
Nebraska's valley found
Their
chosen home.

Now o'er her realm and 'neath her
sky,
Her golden
harvests richly lie;
Her corn more vast than Egypt
yields;
Her grain
unmatched in other fields;
Her
cattle rare;
Alfalfa fields, by winding
streams;
And sunsets,
thrilling poets' dreams;
There all we sing, and know that
time
Has ne'er
revealed a fairer clime,
Or
sweeter air.

Her heaving bluffs uplift their
heads
Along her
winding river-beds,
And, pleasing far the traveler's
view,
Well guard her
Elkhorn and her Blue,
Encrowned
with wood.
And there, by landmarks, ne'er to
fail,
Upon the
ancient westward trail;
Or graven stone, securely
placed,
By eye
observant may be traced
Where
wigwam stood.

Her honored cities grow in
wealth;
In thriving
commerce, public health;
Her first, the gateway of the
west;
Her Omaha, that
will not rest,
Nor
take defeat,
Her capital of worthy fame,
That bears the
mighty Lincoln's name,
And thousands of Nebraska's
youth
E'er summons to
the fount of truth,
At
learning's seat.

The semi-centennial celebration, for
its form, scope, spirit, success, and influence, owes much
to the members of many committees and to many citizens of
the state, but more by far than to any other one person, to
the Honorable John L. Webster of Omaha. For many years he
had taken great interest in the history of the state and in
the welfare, progress, and usefulness of the State
Historical Society. During the period prior to the
semi-centennial Mr. Webster had been president of the
society. When the state was approaching 1917 he proposed to
the members of the historical society the propriety of
holding a celebration, the chief feature to be an historical
pageant. His thought was that this should be of such a
character that it would symbolize not only the development
of Nebraska but, also, show the relation and position of the
state to the opening and settlement of the great West. The
idea and purpose appealed to the members of the society. All
were in sympathy with it provided Mr. Webster would take the
chairmanship of the committee and the responsibility which
the position and undertaking carried with them. It is well
known beyond the limits of Nebraska that Mr. Webster is a
collector of art treasures and one of many people in his
city who cultivate the best there is in art and in art
ideals. He is known as the founder of the Friends of the Art
Association. This love of art in part gave shape and color
to the pageant in Omaha and to the celebration in the
various parts of Nebraska. While much had been done by the
Historical Society in collecting and preserving treasures of
value and interest relating to the people and to the history
of the state during the years since its organization, much
more will be done in the future because of the
semi-centennial celebration.

THE
WORLD WAR

BY J. A. BEATTIE

Every true American takes a just pride
in that which the United States helped France, Great
Britain, and the other allied nations to accomplish during
the last years of the World War. Likewise, every loyal,
patriotic citizen of Nebraska appreciates to the fullest
extent

THE WORLD WAR

847

the courage and valor of the soldiers and sailors who
went from this state to the camps, trenches, and
storm-centers of Europe when the country called and when
national freedom was in danger. The same spirit and devotion
inspired the Red Cross and those who were helpers in other
divisions and organizations.
But at this date we are too near the
beginning and ending of the great struggle to know all the
facts and to appreciate the zeal and work of those who went
from Nebraska. When time shall reveal all the facts and
shall establish the rightful place of group and division, in
so far as that can be done, some historian will tell the
story of the work and sacrifices of those who went from
Nebraska. This story will include the struggles, the
privations, the sacrifices, and the songs of victory of
those who went, who saw, who fought, who conquered, and who
returned to the homes and communities from which they
enlisted. Likewise the story will contain a faithful account
of the soldierly conduct and the deeds of valor of those who
sleep where the "poppies grow" and whose graves are in the
care of the allied nations beyond the seas.
While we are wating (sic) for time, study,
and research to make all things clear and for some one to
put them down by the side of those from the other states in
the Union, we may with great profit study some of the causes
of the war and learn some of its important lessons --
lessons which are taught by this school of experience. The
lessons taught by the war ought to inspire us to be still
more loyal in the future than we have been in the past to
every principle of right and duty and still more loyally
devoted to everything truly democratic in life and purpose.
One of the things it is worth while for us to learn is the
extent to which the world was involved in the war and the
extent to which we are to share its consequences. Perhaps
the best and easiest way to get the right conception of the
variety and vastness of the interests which the war involved
is to make a group of the nations and peoples who were
directly engaged in the conflict. By this method we shall be
able to measure more accurately and appreciate more fully
the meaning of the life and death struggle, Not only so, but
we shall come to know how far the forces of evil intended to
carry the false and fatal doctrine that "might makes right."
In all, twenty-eight nations were engaged in the war. Four
of these were on what is called the side of the Germans and
twenty-four made up what are called the allied nations. It
will be an aid in understanding the war to know the nations
engaged. Space will not permit the area, the population, the
military strength, the financial ability to supply the army
with the necessary equipment and many more important things
to be recorded in such a way that they can be compared. That
the student may have the names before him whenever he
desired to consult a map or to look up any facts, the states
on both sides are put down. For convenience they are
arranged in alphabetical order. On one side, besides
Germany, were Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey. These
four were strengthened by the peoples who lived in the
possessions of these four nations.
The allied nations were as follows:
Belgium, Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, France and her
possessions, Guatamala, Great Britain, including Canada,
Australia, South Africa, and her other possessions, Greece,
Haiti, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Siberia, Montenegro,
Nicaraugua (sic), Panama, Portugal, including her
possessions, Rumania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Siam, and
the United States.
The peoples whose governments had not
declared war and were, therefore, not officially on the one
side nor on the other, were within the circle of war prices,
war hatred, war spirit, war dread, and war tendency.
Although Holland and Switzerland and the
other neutral nations did all in their power to keep within
treaty limits and to maintain peaceful relations, they
suffered in many ways. Their food, clothing, shipping,
building material, and almost every other thing which
entered, in any way, into life and industry, commercial and
manufacturing, have been subject to the prices, demands, and
unrest of the war. While all peoples were not under arms and
were not represented by battle-ships,

848

HISTORY OF NEBRASKA

all nations and peoples have suffered and that in ways
and to an extent that history may never be able to
record.
Another phase of the war is seen and the
destruction of war is realized when we ask and answer the
question: What were France, Belgium, Serbia, and the other
nations in July, 1914, and what was their condition in July,
1919? A little study of the difference in the conditions at
these two dates will teach us that while the war was a
necessity in order that the democracy of yesterday and the
civilization of today might not perish from the earth, the
war from the first to the last was destruction and that of
the most ruthless and destructive kind. While there may be
worse things than war this one which began in August, 1914,
needs to be studied but a little to know that destruction of
life and property was upon so gigantic a scale, was so great
that the number of dead and wounded and the millions of
money seem only so many figures on the printed page -- that
and nothing more, to the average mind that tries to
comprehend the figures and the results.
That we may realize as fully as possible
what it all means and how much better it would be for
mankind if "nations would not learn war any more" let us ask
what France was in July, 1914?
The position of the Republic of France in
the midst of the monarchies of Europe made it a necessity
for her to fight for her existence. Because of the situation
France came very near being overrun and occupied by the
foreign foe as were Belgium and Serbia. The French, as a
whole, are a practical, patriotic, and home-loving people.
It was the courage and fortitude of her soldiers, sustained
by her patriotic citizenship and inspired by the aid and
spirit of the allied forces, that saved France from complete
subjugation. France and her soldiers were sustained while
passing through this furnace of fire by the memory of her
heroic past. The background of her history contributed very
greatly to her spirit and conduct during the war. The glory
of Joan of Arc, the greatness and military genius of
Napoleon, and the patriotic fervor of Lafayette were
seconded by the devotion of the French people. The memory of
the spirit and action of the French girls after the close of
the war of 1870-1871 was a part of the heritage of this most
worthy people. Some of the girls from France were working in
homes in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and
Baltimore when the treaty was signed in 1871. This treaty
demanded an indemnity of one billion dollars to Germany,
besides the loss of Alsace-Lorraine. We are told, on good
authority, that some of these girls from France, for the
honor of France and because of their love for the home land,
saved parts of their wages and sent them back to aid their
fathers and mothers, their brothers and sisters, their
friends and neighbors to pay the indemnity Germany had
demanded.
It was a knowledge of the heroic past
joined to a realization of that which was involved in the
issues of the present which inspired the French at Verdun,
and at the Marne to stand in solid phalanx and to count
their lives not "dear unto themselves" if the glory of the
past might live in the present and that the fields and
cities of their fathers might not be trodden under the heel
of the foe of political freedom and democratic civilization.
What France was in July, 1914, is indicated by the diversity
of her soil and climate, by the variety of her agricultural
products, by the relation 90,000,000 of people sustained to
her 207,107 square miles of surface, by the fact that about
three-fourths of the people live in the country and about
one-half of the people live by growing wheat and corn, rye
and oats, barley and sugar-beets. To these industries they
added the raising of cattle and horses, mules and sheep.
Before the war began in 1914 France rivaled the world in the
production of lace and jewels, carpets and porcelain, and
she stood at that time first among the European nations in
her educational advantages. In July, 1919, many of her
fields and farms were a desolation and many of her towns and
cities were in ruins. Add to these material things the
broken families, the deserted homes, the anguish and
hopelessness of women and children who are waiting

THE WORLD WAR

849

for the sound of footsteps which shall be heard not
again, and to all this add the thousands upon multiplied
thousands of her youth and men of strength who sleep in
unnumbered and in unremembered graves, and you have simply a
beginning of that which the war has cost one of the fairest
countries of the earth. In the light of the contrast well
may we ask: What is the lesson America and the world ought
to learn concerning war and its destruction?
But France is not the only country to feel
the weight and strength of the iron heel of Prussian
autocracy. It does not require much knowledge of Belgium and
that which took place in that little country to count the
cost of war and to measure the worth and opportunities of
peace.
Belgium is only about one-eighteenth as
large as France. When the war came on, Belgium had a
population of about 8,000,000. In the peaceful days of July,
1914, there were 703 people for every square mile of
surface. Measured by the number of square miles and the
number of persons for each square mile Belgium was the most
thickly populated country on the globe. Something is known
everywhere of her great cities -- Brussels, Antwerp, Liege,
Louvain, and Ghent, and of that for which they stood and for
which they gave promise in 1914. Before the war Belgium was
the home of great industries, great public libraries, great
schools of music, great schools of science and of the arts,
and of four great universities. To her praise be it said, so
far as we are able to judge, it was the courage and
promptness of the Belgian King and army that enabled France
to gain the time and to make the preparation in the
beginning of the war which saved Paris from falling into the
hands of the enemy. During the greater part of the 1559 days
war existed Belgium's soil, with the exception of surface
enough to make three or four townships, was occupied and her
people were subject to the will and dictation of Germany. By
means of a small paper in the form of a public document King
Albert kept in communication with his people. The King and
Queen, for much of the time, were in one of the small towns
of France. From the beginning of the war to its close the
King and the army were inspired with lofty purpose and were
animated with undaunted courage. As in the case of France so
in Belgium a comparison of the condition in 1919 with that
during the first half of 1914 shows the desolation war has
wrought and asks the civilized world to make such
destruction of life and property impossible in the
future.
To understand the lesson taught by a
comparison of Serbia in July, 1919, with what she was in
July, 1914, and to know how she became involved we must go
back a little distance in time.
Serbia, considered as a martyr nation,
teaches us and should teach the world that all honorable
means should be employed before a call to arms against any
responsible people ought to be made. It will be sufficient
for the present purpose to state that through the changes
caused by the Russo-Turkish War the independence of Serbia
was secured in 1882 and a youth of thirteen years was placed
on the throne. This young man ruled, as regent, under the
name of Alexander I until 1893 when he took full control as
king. In 1903 the King and Queen Draga were assassinated and
Peter Karageoraevich was declared king. He was the ruler
when war broke out in 1914. That which furnished the excuse
for the war on the part of Germany was the assassination of
the Austrian crown prince while he was in Bosnia. At first
Serbia was able to withstand the blows of Germany. But in a
very short time the German army sent into Serbia was so
great in number that she could not stand the shock. The
spectacle of the enslavement of some of the Serbian people
and driving others of them into exile are among the most
pathetic and heartless of the barbarities of the war. The
Serbian government and people did every thing a brave,
courageous, and capable nation could do. A glance at the map
will show how difficult it was for France, or Belgium, or
Great Britain or any of the other allied nations, in the
early part of the war especially, to come to the aid

850

HISTORY OF NEBRASKA

of Serbia. The only one of the allied nations who could
have rendered material aid was Russia and Russia, even then,
although not generally known, was almost within the throes
of a revolution. While the Serbians were accustomed to war,
having taken part in the Balkan wars in 1912-1913, and had
an army made up of all the men able to bear arms between the
ages of twenty and fifty in a population of about 2,500,000,
they were not able to cope with the numbers and strength of
the German military power.
The contrast in Serbia between the
condition in July, 1919, and that of July, 1914, teaches
America and the world the same lesson which is told and is
impressed by the suffering and sacrifices in France and
Belgium.

CAUSES OF THE
WORLD
WAR

The lessons which the world war
emphasises (sic) for us and for all may be learned by
knowing the causes, and from these determine the things yet
to be done before right and reason, justice and humanity,
good-will and consideration, shall rule among the nations of
the earth.
In its beginning the head and front of the
offending lay between what are called the "Central Powers"
-- Germany and Austria and the "Triple Entente"-- Great
Britain, France, and Russia. The clash of arms was very
sudden and to many people in all parts of the world it was
unexpected. Many prophesies of the war had been made during
ten or fifteen years before August, 1914. The anticipations
of the war were based, for the most part, on what, for the
sake of clearness, may be placed in three groups:

1. The desire of Germany to extend her
trade to all parts of the world and the spirit and methods
by which this desire was carried into effect.
2. The desire of Germany to acquire and to
control naval stations in great numbers and at places of the
greatest financial and physical advantage.
3. The desire of Germany to wrest from
Great Britain her power in western Asia and on the sea.
These plans of Germany were intended,
also; to prevent Russia from securing communication from the
Black Sea to the Mediterranean by the Bosporus and the
Dardanelles, and by these ways and means on to the open sea.
The people and government of the United States were not
particularly concerned with these things, only, in so far as
there was unrest, and as a consequence there was a constant
tendency to disturb the peaceful relations which were
sustained with all peoples.
Even after a German submarine, on May 7th,
1915, without any warning, sent the Lusitania, a British
steamer, to the bottom of the ocean and with the ship more
than one thousand men, women, and children, one hundred and
fourteen of whom were Americans, the government of the
United States withheld the declaration of war and made other
diplomatic efforts to stay the hand of the destroyer.
To prevent the possibility of Germany
getting the Virgin Islands, and by this purchase gain
control of one of the approaches to the Panama Canal our
government bought the islands from Denmark. By this act our
government secured for $25,000,000 one of the best harbors
and other valuable considerations. This harbor on the island
of St. Thomas is considered one of the best belonging to our
island possessions. Instead of these diplomatic efforts and
protests having any effect in stopping the war during this
period it became evident that we were becoming more and more
entangled with every passing day.
On the positive side three things were
impelling forces in bringing the American government to the
place where the declaration of war seemed the least that
could be done:

1. Germany, by the exercise of her war
power, had come into control of a vast empire. Her dictation
extended far into Asia, over Turkey and Belgium, and from
Austria to the North Sea.
2. The brutal treatment of the people who
were in the parts Germany occupied in northern France,
Belgium, Serbia, Armenia, and Poland.
3. Germany proclaimed to the world by

THE WORLD WAR

851

nearly every move she made after the first of August,
1914, that she was a selfish and heartless aristocrat --
autocratic and despotic to the last degree.
Germany was a government of military force
and that force was in the hands of a small number of "war
lords."
This meant but one thing for America and
for the world if Germany were not defeated on the field of
battle. It meant the control and the dictation of ourselves
and of all others by a government of a few on the principle
that "might makes right." It meant for France, Belgium,
Serbia, Great Britain, and for the United States and for all
others that which may be expressed thus: We have the power
and therefore it is right for us to use it whenever and
wherever we please. We can, therefore we will, if we please,
to do so for "might makes right."
The tone, the spirit, and the arrogance of
these two sentences were in every proclamation of the "war
lords" and from all that could be learned they were seconded
and adopted by all who were in authority. The first manifest
result was that on April 6th, 1917, Congress declared that
Germany had brought on war with the United States. At the
same time Congress authorized the necessary means and
equipment by which the war could be carried to a successful
issue.
Among other things it is well for us
Americans to know and to appreciate, in connection with the
great war, is the fact that in society everywhere and
always, there are constantly two conflicting tendencies. One
of these is the desire of the people to take more and more
into their own hands their government. The other is the
desire of the office-holding class to restrict more and more
the rule of the people and to secure for themselves greater
and greater control and privileges. One of these is the
opportunity of the people to work out their own destiny and
thus, by the thought and effort necessary to take care of
themselves, grow into larger intelligence and greater
sympathy. The other is the so-called divine right of kings.
This is the rule of a class, without any regard for the
wishes of the people. These two principles, which are always
at work, had much to do as direct causes in bringing on the
war. It was the uprising of the people which overthrew the
French monarchy and established in its stead a republic.
The same kind of a movement separated
Greece, Bulgaria, Rumania, Serbia, and Albania from the rule
of the Turkish government. It was the same spirit that
separated Belgium from Holland and enabled other peoples to
take upon themselves their political destiny.
It was a counter-movement which caused the
formation of the German Confederation. Because Prussia was
the strongest of the states and Bismarck, the prime minister
of Prussia, was a man of "blood and iron," the German Empire
took on the character of the largest province and became
imbued with the spirit of Bismarck.
The spirit and purpose of the third French
republic -- the government of today -- in 1870 were directly
opposed to the autocratic empire on the other side of the
Rhine. The same opposition to military life and standards
had prevailed for many year, in Great Britain. Before the
formation of the German Empire and its control by Bismarck,
for hundreds of years, England and Scotland and Ireland had
prospered under representative institutions and government.
Changes and reforms of various kinds had been brought about
by lawful and peaceful means. Because of this, Great
Britain's old form and aristocratic spirit had been replaced
by a government resting on democratic principles. Because of
her obligations to Belgium, determined and entered into by
treaty agreements, because of the sacred principles for
which the people and government stood, and because of her
investments in many parts of the world, Great Britain did
everything that diplomatic power and intelligence could do
to prevent the war. Like ourselves, Great Britain was not
prepared for war, on August 1, 1914, except upon the sea.
The British navy was prepared for any emergency because it
had been developed to protect her merchant

852

HISTORY OF NEBRASKA

vessels which were to be found in all parts of the
world.
Another thing which caused Great Britain
to desire peace on the one hand and to withstand Germany on
the other was the relation she sustained -- actual and
implied -- to her colonies and the friendly relations these
colonies sustained to the nations and peoples of the earth.
Great Britain's colonial system had been so developed that
while there resulted a vast empire it was guided by the
principles of English liberty and the affairs were
administered by representative government. For one hundred
years and more the policy of Great Britain had been to
organize her colonies into self-governing states. Thus there
was what we may call a federal government in Canada, in
Australia, and in South Africa. These governments are, in
fact, three British democracies within the British Empire.
Because of this condition, because of the relation Canada
and the others sustained to the United States, and because
Great Britain felt the responsibility of a free people for
the perpetuity of free expression on the part of the
democratic governments of the earth, she called to arms when
diplomatic efforts failed. The spirit and attitude, the
efforts and sacrifices, the loyalty to principle and
sympathy for the welfare of all, on the part of the British
government, soldiers and seamen, from whatever land or
province they came, as well as the generous support of the
English people, will go down in history as worthy of the
highest praise. The British in this great struggle are
worthy companions of France, Belgium, Serbia, Italy, the
United States, and of the others whose swords were
unsheathed and whose armies were marshaled at the call of
freedom. The sympathetic coöperation and sacrifices of
Great Britain, without hope of material reward, with France,
Belgium, and Serbia in their struggle with Prussian
autocracy are worthy of all praise.
No small consideration is due to the Red
Cross, the Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A., the churches, and
the social and fraternal organizations of various kinds and
to many, many individual men and women. These organizations
furnished much of the moral and financial support which made
victory certain. History will not let the world forget the
uncounted thousands of starving peoples of all ranks and
classes in Belgium, Serbia, Armenia, and elsewhere who have
been kept alive by the contributions of the peoples and
governments of the sympathetic nations during the years of
this conflict.
The grateful peoples of the earth will
long remember the ideals, purposes, and coöperation of
President Woodrow Wilson, Premier Lloyd George, Premier
Georges Clemenceau, Premier Villoris Emanuele Orlando, and
others on whose shoulders the burdens rested and to whom all
looked for direction and leadership. To many of those
associated with them equal honor is due -- a number so great
that even the names cannot be recorded in this
connection.
The world will always owe a debt to
Marshal Ferdinand Foch, General Joseph Jacques Joffre,
General Julian H. G. Bing, Marshal Douglas Haig, General
John J. Pershing, and to many other great leaders in the
allied armies and navies who made possible the armistice and
the final day of peace.
When the full text of the history shall
have been written no less honor and no less appreciation
shall rest upon the rank and file -- the common soldiers and
seamen -- who fought and aided in winning the battles of
freedom. This will apply alike to those who did faithful
service in this land as well as on a foreign shore, to those
who returned to home and country with victory resting on
their banners and to those whose bodies lie in the lands
beyond the sea.
That the facts and statements in the
foregoing pages may have their influence in making us the
kind of Americans we ought to be, there is added the
following lines by Lieutenant Colonel John D. McCrea. They
were written during the second battle of Ypres in April,
1915. The author was killed in Flanders, January 28, 1918.
Before going to the army he was a practicing physician in
Montreal, Canada. These three stanzas will help to keep
alive in our memories the sacri-

THE WORLD WAR

853

fices of the millions of the bravest and strongest sons
of Europe and America who sleep beneath the sod as one of
the results of the World War.

In Flanders fields, the
poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place,
and in the sky
The larks, still
bravely singing, fly,
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead;
short days ago
We lived, felt dawn,
saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we
lie
In
Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe!

To you from falling hands we throw
The torch; be yours
to hold it high!
If ye break faith
with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies
grow,
In
Flanders fields.